Beijing has a very well-known Ming and Qing Dynasty architecture, which attracts a large number of tourists every year, of which people are perhaps most interested in the Great Bell Temple, because there is a magical bronze bell in the temple - the Yongle Bell. It is worth mentioning that there is also an optical spectacle inside the Yongle Bell, but unfortunately it is not easy to see now. What kind of strangeness is that? The following Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you from the beginning.
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When it comes to the Yongle Bell, many readers must be familiar with it, it is the largest existing bronze ancient bell in China. As we all know, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di usurped the throne, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, and also built a large-scale Forbidden City, which is now the Forbidden City. At the same time, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di also ordered the casting of a bronze bell, and the reasons for this have always been controversial, but the most authoritative view is that Zhu Di felt uneasy after usurping the throne, and he wanted to use the bell to make him feel at peace, and also cast a scripture inscription on the big bell to pray for blessings. In any case, Zhu Di spent 3 years casting the Yongle Bell, but unfortunately he died not long after, and later to the Wanli Period, the Yongle Bell was transferred to the Wanshou Temple to pray for the Wanli Emperor, and then to the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty, the Yongle Bell was moved to the Juesheng Temple, and has remained intact to this day.
Juesheng Temple was originally an imperial temple built by the Yongzheng Emperor, and was renamed the Great Bell Temple because of the arrival of the Yongle Bell. Nowadays, the Great Bell Temple is not only a household name, but also famous overseas, and tens of thousands of tourists come to the Great Bell Temple every year to see the yongle Bell. Experts said that the Yongle Bell has a history of more than 500 years and is a veritable "Bell King", in general, it also has "five absolutes". The first is large, the Yongle Bell is about 6.75 meters high, about 3.54 meters in diameter, and weighs 46 tons; the second is a large inscription, and there are inscriptions (scriptures) of about 227,000 words inside and outside the Yongle Bell, such as the Vajrapani Sutra, the Miaofa Lotus Sutra and the Midas Sutra, etc.; the third sound is far away, the sound can be transmitted for about 60 kilometers after the Yongle Bell rings, and the bell can be maintained for about 2-3 minutes; the fourth is wonderful, and the Yongle Bell weighs 46 tons, equivalent to the weight of 23 cars mentioned above. And the hanging of the big bell is only a small hook, which can bear such a huge weight; the fifth casting process is advanced, and there is no connection gap on the entire Yongle clock, indicating that the big bell is cast with a model, and our modern technology may not be able to complete.
After the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yongle Bell was also shelved for a time, as if it had become a scrap of copper and rotten iron, until the end of the Republic of China, the bell was not protected again, and every New Year's Chinese New Year's Eve Night, the monks of the Great Bell Temple would ring the bell to pray for blessings, and the sound of the Yongle Bell could be heard throughout Beijing at that time. Later, after renovation and maintenance, the Temple of the Great Bell was also opened to the public, during which some people were surprised to find a spectacle that had never been seen before. At that time, the Yongle Bell was still hanging in the Hall of the Great Bell, and there was an octagonal sound pool under the bell, and whenever the wall bell was struck, the water in the sound pool rippled. After research, experts have shown that the octagonal sound pool has a wonderful use, allowing the bell to travel farther upwards.
Once, the water in the octagonal sound pool dried up, so some people were curious to go down to the sound pool to see what the interior of the Yongle Clock was like. Someone found that the interior of the Yongle Bell was indeed densely covered with scriptures, but in addition to this, there were 10 neat spots of light on the inner wall, but it was doubtful that the interior of the Yongle Clock was not lit. Before that, no one had ever heard of a spot of light inside the Yongle Clock, so where the spot came from became a mystery. Later, the Yongle Bell had a light spot on the inner wall of the spread, for a time many people flocked to see the spectacle, although some people wanted to solve the mystery of the light spot, but in the end they could not figure it out, so they had to give up.
Many years later, some cultural relics experts have studied and cracked the reason for the appearance of light spots on the inner wall of the Yongle Bell. Experts found that the large bell hall where the Yongle Bell hangs has 12 windows, all of which open whenever the bell is struck; then, at the top of the Yongle Clock, there is a large swell at the top of the Yongle Bell, and the answer to the question is inside this stomata. When sunlight passes through the window, and then projects into the small hole of the Yongle bell, and then forms a window spot on the inner wall of the big bell, if it is summed up, it is the principle of "small hole imaging" in middle school physics. Maybe you are still wondering, obviously there are 12 windows, why only 10 light spots? In fact, this question is also very easy to answer, if you stand on a high place and observe, you will find that the original top of the mat blocked the light of the other two windows, so in the end only 10 light spots can be formed.
Nowadays, the Yongle Bell is still ringing every year, but the spectacle of the light spot on the inner wall of the bell is not easy to reproduce. Because the clock needs protection, it is impossible to get close to it, which is also very regrettable.
Resources:
"Discovering the Yongle Bell" by Zhang Baosheng, Publisher: Peking University Press
Yihe Lao Wu blog.
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written by: Special History Writer: Liu Lijiang's